November 11, 2019

Optimizing Your Amazon Product Listing: How and Where to Use Keywords

Amazon is one of the leading third party sites for e-commerce. Many people are using it to sell products competing with yours, so you need to optimize Amazon product listing for a great chance of getting success. At the same time, you should not just make your listing attractive to the Amazon search algorithm. You need to optimize the listing to convince customers that this is exactly the product that they need.

You doubt that you can do all this, don't you? Our guide will help to make this process simplier and more efficient.

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Why Should You Undergo Amazon Product Listing Optimization?

If you are one of the sellers using Amazon, then you should definitely make Product Listing Optimization. Optimizing your product listing will pave the way to several benefits. One of these benefits increases sales. Why? With an improved and right product listing your products will be gaining more hits in search results. 

The more often buyers see your product, the higher likelihood that they will purchase it. Sales growth entails an increase of BSR, and also increases the likelihood that the product will receive more positive reviews (unless, of course, it is of high quality). And this is very important in the Amazon world.

In general, for rising your product to the top in Amazon, product listing optimization is a definite must for you.

What Are the Factors That Should Be Considered for Optimizing Your Product Listing?

If you are optimizing a Product Listing by keywords, there are various factors that you must consider. First, you should know that there are numerous options that the A9 algorithm takes into account when choosing the position of your product in search results. Conventionally, these factors can be divided into two large categories: Relevance-Related Amazon Ranking Factors and Performance-Related Amazon Ranking Factors (Product’s Price, Amazon Conversion Rate, Product Images, Amazon Reviews).

In this article, we will consider only Relevance-Related Amazon Ranking Factors.

  • Product Title;
  • Amazon Backend Keywords;
  • Product Description;
  • Bullet Points;
  • Reviews.

In order for the optimization to produce the expected result, you need to use keywords in various parts of the listing. But before that, you must choose them correctly.

What Is Keyword Research and Why It Must Be Done?

When people search for a product, they use specific search phrases and words. The growth of product sales depends on how correctly you select such keywords for your listing. Keyword research allows you to find the most relevant search phrases for your listing.

By doing keyword research, you determine the popular keywords about your product that gets constant hits in the search bar. You become fully aware of the right or appropriate keywords that you should set to get more chances of being searched.

Keyword Research Methods

  • Amazon Keywords Search Tool.

Use special tools for the Amazon seller to find the most accurate and correct keywords. It can be both paid and free services, thanks to which you can significantly expand your list of keywords. MerchantWords, Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, and any other such tools are what you should use first.

  • Amazon AD Campaign.

In our article about using Amazon AD Campaigns for Keyword Research, we described details of how to find the right key phrases using this method. Now, we just describe in general terms how to do this.

You start an Automatic Advertising Campaign and then after a while analyze its results to select keywords that best match your listing. Then you start another Advertising Campaign, but in manual mode, based on the selected keywords, and continue to analyze the statistics of impressions, clicks, and purchases. Then, adjust your search phrases again to highlight the most relevant keywords.

  • Competitor List Analysis. 

Analyze the list of competitors, try to find the key phrases that they use in Title, Description, Bullet Points. Analyze those competitors who have a high level of sales and good reviews. Probably, they were able not only to provide customers with quality products but also correctly optimize the listing. So, the keywords they use are relevant. Special tools like KeywordInspector can also help.

  • Amazon’s Suggestions.

Do not forget about the tips that Amazon gives. The field for entering keywords for searching products is a good way to find relevant search phrases. Browse the drop-down list with clue phrases. You may find interesting keywords for your product. And do not forget to repeat such a search not only on the Amazon general page but also on the category and subcategory page to which your product belongs. The results are likely to be different, but this may be your advantage.

If you do not perform keyword research, listing optimization will not give the desired results. If keywords are chosen incorrectly, then when people will go to the product listing page, they will still not buy it (this will not be the product they are looking for). Amazon takes into account the behavioral factor, and instead of moving to the TOP rating, the rating may fall down.

It can also hurt the product’s AD campaign because AD impressions will be meaningless. After all, people will go to the product page, but they won’t buy anything, because the product will not meet their expectations. Not performing the keyword research will definitely put you at a disadvantage.

Now it’s worth figuring out how to use keywords correctly in the various parts of the listing.

Optimizing Your Product Listing by Keywords

This is the highlight of this article, the tips and tricks that you should do, and consider for your product listing to be fully optimized.

Title

Of course, you should always start with the primary part of your listing that is highly interactive to the customers, the title. Proper Amazon SEO title is really important. Include the most important keywords in it positioning them as close to the start as possible. However, do not repeat the common mistake: listing multiple keywords in Title without indicating really important product characteristics. Too many search phrases will only lead to the fact that such a Title will push away potential buyers.

It is important to make Title interesting for the client, give him the necessary information and organically use several keywords. Failure to do so will definitely result in fewer sales and less traffic made.

In your product title, you must include the necessary and relevant keywords. Here are some tricks which you can use to enhance your Title:

  • You can include the brand name of the product. Customers tend to search for specific brands, adding the brand name may put your product in their search path.
  • Specify the size of your product. Aside from the brand name, include in the Title the size of the goods where it matters.  Adding the size of the product may put you at an advantage.
  • Although keywords are important, you should not go overboard with the keywords. If you add too many of them, you'll sacrifice the quality of the title and definitely may cause an insignificant effect on the click-through rate.
  • Remember that for most product categories there is a limit of 250 characters when writing Title.

Amazon has its own recommendations on how the Product Title should look like depending on its category. Check it out here to understand how to strike a balance between Amazon's requirements and the requirements that a key-optimized header should satisfy.

Amazon Backend Keywords

These are hidden keywords that are used by sellers to get more hits in the search result. These words are usually stated in the Backend section of your seller account on Amazon.

Filling the Backend is a great way to use “inconvenient” or “wrong” keywords for search engine optimization, which customers often enter when searching for a particular product. If you cannot correctly place such keywords in the Title, Description, or Bullet Points, enter them in the Amazon Backend. They will be indexed by the A9 algorithm, and you will not lose your potential buyers.

The primary thing that you must know about the backend keywords is Amazon Keywords Limit. The required Amazon keywords are 250 bytes. You read it right, you are only limited to 250 bytes, so you should make the most of it. 

And since the maximum length of Backend Amazon keywords is 250 bytes, you should try to fill it with different search phrases, not including here those that have already been used previously in some parts of the listing.

Here are the tips and tricks that you can follow:

  • Don’t use any quotations or punctuations to separate words.
  • Do not repeat the keywords.
  • Add keywords with errors to the backend. 

Although Amazon claims that this is optional and does not affect indexing if you have the number of characters allowed, do it.

  • Do not try to break the rules of Amazon.

This applies to exceeding the permissible length of characters, the use of keywords that are inappropriate for the product.

  • Use long-tail keywords to reach the widest possible audience of customers.

If you want to generate effective backend keywords, then you can use the Amazon keywords tool. Such a tool can be used not only to search for keywords but also to extract key phrases from competitor listings.

Bullet Points

It is considered to be a highlight of your product. This is when you state the key benefits of your products. Aside from the product description, this portion also gives info about your product and gives them more reason to purchase your product.

You have 5 slots or more, where you can write 5 main benefits that customers will get from buying this product. Remember that you are marketing your product. Therefore you must convince your potential customers by giving them direct benefits.

You can also write some keywords in the bullet point to get more traffic. 

Good tactics for optimizing Bullet Points are as follows. You start each new bullet with a brief, accurate overview of the benefits. And then you reveal this advantage in more detail using keywords.

And one more thing: do you want to keep the attention of the client and hook it with your text? Then put all the most important key benefits and options at the top of the Bullet Points list.

Are there any symbol limits on Bullet Points?

Yes, there are limitations. Only 1000 characters are available to you, so be very precise and concise when writing. But you should always check the guidelines as Amazon hasthe keywords limit. Regardless of the number of bullet points or keywords, you have to keep in mind that you should never sacrifice the quality of each bullet.

Product Description

In this section, you must clearly and succinctly describe the purpose of your products. Not only that, but your product description must also be giving your customer a significant reason why your product is worth the investment.

This section of your product listing plays an important role in your rankings. Amazon will be viewing your product description and will rank them, so you have to write it smartly. You should write a product description that does not attract customers only, but also Amazon.

You should add or state all the necessary and vital information about the product you are selling. You can include the specifications, dimensions, color available, warranty, and many more. You can also include the unique qualities and features of the product to entice the customer and Amazon.

At the same time, you should definitely add selected keywords, due to which your description will become optimized.  You have no limit on the number of keywords, but you don’t need to overdo it either. Add search phrases so that they are limited to complement the general content and do not look "alien" in the description.

You can use up to 2,000 symbols to create a perfect product description. To help you further here are the tips that you should use:

  • You should always adhere to the Amazon guidelines.
  • Know your target audience. If you are well-aware of your customers, then it will be easier for you to entice them with your product description.
  • Write your product description yourself. Never settle with description generators, using this will sacrifice the authenticity of your product description.
  • Authenticity and creativity are important. However, don't forget to highlight the information that is really important for the client.
  • Include all the details about the product, because here you have the opportunity to tell more about it. Remember to add keywords.
  • Mention warranties. Customers will appreciate it and will be more loyal to your product/brand.

Summary

Amazon product listing optimization should always be done by a seller. This gives you the advantage of generating more sales and increasing ranks. Amazon is filled with different kinds of competitors, so you must exhaust all legal means possible to rise to the top. Stated above are the must-know information about optimizing your Amazon product listing. Follow the tips and tricks to cope up with the tide in the world of Amazon.